[Vm-dev] a Cog branch

Andrew Gaylard ag at computer.org
Fri Jun 25 08:37:27 UTC 2010


On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 10:09 AM, Andreas Raab <andreas.raab at gmx.de> wrote:
>
> On 6/25/2010 1:05 AM, Geoffroy Couprie wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 9:53 AM, Andreas Raab<andreas.raab at gmx.de>  wrote:
>>>
>>> On 6/24/2010 7:16 PM, Igor Stasenko wrote:
>>>>
>>>> One user could create a project, then others may create forks or
>>>> subforks of his project(s)
>>>
>>> How exactly is this a good thing? I don't want 200 forked Squeak VM
>>> versions; I want one canonical source that people can build from.
>>>
>>
>> Forks can be really useful for people who have to maintain a set of
>> patches that may not be accepted in the repository (applications
>> requiring a specific VM configuration, servers, etc).
>
> Do we have this problem? What patches do you or anyone else have that can or
> should not be integrated in the main source?

I for one, really do have this problem.  My list of patches now runs
to 13 files,
totalling 3871 lines.

Note: I'm not blaming the current maintainers; I think they're doing a
great job.

It's just that some things never make it into the official tree.
Sometimes the maintainers don't accept a patch.
Sometimes my employer won't allow me to release a patch to the public.
Sometimes I'm too embarrassed by my code to release it.

Whatever the reason, patches are a way of life.  We need to find tools and
systems to ensure that this life doesn't suck.  My vote's for git, not because
I particularly "like" it, but because my understanding's that it's the best
tool available when it comes to merging and maintaning patches.  I 'm told
it  makes merges and keeping patches up to date as the main trunk
diverges, as easy as possible.  If there's a better tool, I'm sure someone
on the list will correct me!

- Andrew

PS: My experience has been that, when I do post a patch to the list, it's
met with silence.  I found the lack of feedback (even negative responses)
disconcerting.  So I no longer try terribly hard to get patches into the tree.


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